The state yesterday worked to dispel assertions made by the defense that police officers charged in an off-duty jobs conspiracy weren't no-shows but simply away from their posts.

The charges against retired Capt. Joe Ascolese and Lt. Kelly Chesler stem from off-duty traffic assignments in 2014 during the Pulaski Skyway closures. Ascolese was in charge of the operation and Chesler was his executive officer.

Both are charged with falsifying time sheets for Officer Michael Maietti, who has since decided to cooperate with the prosecution and will testify against the others at trial. Officer Joseph Widejko is also expected to testify that he was paid for no-show shifts. Widejko was not charged.

Officer Michael O'Neil is accused of working two no-show off-jobs, which were allegedly awarded to him to pay him back for shelling out $200 to pay for damage to a vehicle that was involved in an accident with a police motorcycle.

Jersey City entered into an agreement with the state Department of Transportation in which the police department would pay officers to fill the off-duty traffic control jobs and the DOT would reimburse the city. Thomas Mahoney supervised the office that processed the off-duty vouchers.

O'Neil's lawyer, Charles Sciarra, said the deal required the JCPD to provide up to 55 officers and two emergency responders during the morning and evening rush hours. The JCPD was also to provide police vehicles needed and was to enforce temporary and permanent parking rules.

"No officer standing on one of these 52 posts needed a vehicle?" Sciarra asked Mahoney on Wednesday, referring to the number of posts eventually agreed upon by the JCPD and DOT.

"Correct," replied Mahoney.

But Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Stoma queried Mahoney under redirect questioning yesterday and worked to dispel the theory that the officers were off doing other duties related to the off-duty work.

Stoma asked Mahoney to go through a stack of the off-duty vouchers and asked "Have you seen any of those documents there in evidence as part of a roving patrol as part of Skyway Duty?"

Mahoney said "No sir."

"Was any pay voucher billed to the DOT that was described as a roving detail?" Stoma pressed.

"No," Mahoney replied.

Stoma also questioned Mahoney about Ascolese's duty as supervisor of the Skyway off-duty work.

The officers face 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges.